City Council: Overturn Supreme Court ruling

The Seattle City Council is calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 “Citizens United” ruling that overruled 103 years of precedent and removed all barriers to political spending by corporations and labor unions.

The unanimous vote was in tradition for a Council that, at times, has ventured afield on such issues as calling for removal of Snake River dams. Last fall it passed a long winded resolution — with words from the Declaration of Independence — backing goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Conlin. (Joshua Trujillo, Seattlepi.com file photo)

“Of course, nobody should be surprised that a fairly progressive city like Seattle takes actions such as this,” said Craig Salins, longtime leader in Seattle Public Campaigns and one of a parade of witnesses who supported the Council’s resolution.

Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata, co-author of the Occupy Wall Street resolution, argued that Seattle is demonstrating “broad-based support” as “part of a national campaign” to reverse Citizens United.

Councilman Richard Conlin was once co-sponsor of the Snake River dams resolution, which he later regretted. He was chief sponsor of Monday’s resolution on Citizens United.

“We are joining more than 100 cities who recognize (that) the pernicious influence of the Citizens United decision on American politics can only be challenged by a Constitutional Amendment at this point, which requires the demonstration of grassroots support,” Conlin said in an e-mail.

Jean Godden on Oct. 17, 2011. Photo: Vanessa Ho/seattlepi.com.

A very Seattle scene preceded the Council’s actions. Two members of Raging Grannies sang an anti-corporate song to the tune of “A Bicycle Built for Two.” “Thank You Seattle” placards were waved. Corporations were denounced in a succession of speeches by long-at-the-tooth liberals.

One Council member — Jean Godden — voiced modest skepticism, but was absent since she was representing the city at a memorial service from Jack Benaroya.

“The Council has been very heavily lobbied by a coalition of well-meaning folks who want to oppose corporations’ ‘free speech’ with a resolution AND an advisory ballot this fall,” Godden said in an e-mail. “That has potential ballot costs, by the way.

“I asked them what they would accomplish since it’s obvious that we do not have the votes in Congress for a constitutional amendment. But they are very persistent and dedicated and, while I sympathize, I do not believe that Congress is going to care what Seattle thinks.”

Supporters pointed out that similar resolutions have been passed by councils in cities from Key West, Florida, to Port Townsend, Washington.

Citizens United has been felt in Washington. An “educational” group called Crossroads GPS spent more than $5.5 million in 2010 in an effort to defeat Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent in $997,000 in a last-minute anti-Murray effort. Americans for Prosperity, a group linked to the billionaire Koch brothers, put its bucks into a U.S. House race in Southwest Washington.

Such groups are not limited in what they can spend, and do not disclose their donors. Crossroads GPS was co-founded by former Bush adviser Karl Rove and former Republican National Chairman (now Romney adviser) Ed Gillespie.

Seattle has for years sought to limit spending in local races and make the process transparent. The city’s Elections office has developed a cobra-like reputation: It will strike at anything.

The unleashing of unlimited spending nationally cannot help but have an impact on Seattle, Councilman Tim Burgess added.

“Remember, the most effective ‘fix’ to this problem is a constitutional amendment, and that process almost always begins out in the hinterlands and spreads to Congress,” Burgess aid.

“What’s happened nationally is a real shame: We have a national political system that has sanitized bribery. That is exactly what politics like ours should be doing.”